Samurai (1975)

Abstract strategy game with Japanese warrior chrome (pieces shaped like samurai warriors). This page currently lists two very different games which share a common origin. Both versions share the rule that the symbol upon which your opponent's piece ends is the symbol over which your piece must first pass but they greatly differ in win condition and so in the means to achieve that end. The French and Dutch versions of the game have a 11 x 11 square board and a player loses the game when unable to make a legal move. There is no combat. The English version has just 69 spaces (a 9 x 9 grid but missing the three squares from each corner of the board). The samurai figures have removable swords. They engage in combat and when losing combat they first lose their swords then are removed from the board. The first player to lose three samurai loses the game.